London (Notebook)

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For works with similar titles, see London (Blake).

Notebook, p. 109, reversed. The first draft of the poem London in Songs of Experience

1543290Notebook 19. London (Notebook)William Blake
Notebook 19 - London


London

I wander thro' each dirty street,
Near where the dirty Thames does flow,
And [see del.] mark in every face I meet,
Marks of weakness, marks of woe.

In every cry of every man,
In [every voice of every child del.] every infant’s cry of fear,
In every voice, in every ban,
The [german del.] mind forg'd [links del.] I hear manacles I hear.

[But most del.] How the chimney sweeper’s cry
[Blackens o'er the churches' walls, del.]
Every black'ning church appalls,
And the hapless Soldier’s sigh
Runs in blood down Palace walls.

[But most the midnight harlot's curse
From every dismal street I hear,
Weaves around the marriage hearse
And blasts the new born infant's tear. del.]

But most from every del.] thro' wintry streets I hear
How the midnight harlot's curse
Blasts the new born Infant’s tear,
And [hangs del.] smites with plagues the Marriage hearse.

But most the shrieks of youth I hear
But most thto' midnight & . . . .
Hw the youthful . . .

This work was published before January 1, 1929, and is in the public domain worldwide because the author died at least 100 years ago.

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